All interest and charges on your unsecured debts will be frozen
As long as you keep to the terms of your arrangement, you will be
protected from any further court action by your creditors. They will also
be prevented from sending letters or calling you
Your payments are based on what you can reasonably afford
You get to keep hold of major assets, such as
a property
You are not prohibited from any employment
Unlike bankruptcy, IVAs are not published in local newspapers. An IVA is
a private agreement with your creditors
A substantial amount of debt may be written off
Once you have completed your IVA according to the specified terms then
you are deemed to be debt free
Disadvantages
It's a lengthy process. If the IVA fails, individual is back to square
one. An IVA gives the debtor a one-off chance at debt rehabilitation.
However, five years is a long time and things do go wrong: marital
breakdown, death, redundancy, pregnancy, essential expenditure on the
home, car or washing machine
Homeowners may be required to remortgage during the term. It may be
necessary to release some of the equity from your property during the
arrangement
An IVA will appear in your credit file and this could affect any future
applications for credit
